Samuel Rodriguez - You're Anointed For Greater Things
Okay, this is what God placed in my spirit for you today, here it is. Acts 28, Acts 28. "Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta," Malta. "The islanders showed us unusual kindness, they built a fire and welcomed us because it was raining and cold". Just like today. "Paul gathered a pile of brushwood, he put it on the fire, and a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand". Now, one version would read that it bit his hand. "But Paul shook the snake off," verse 5, "Into the fire and suffered no ill effects".
How in the world did Paul get to Malta with all this drama? Like, what just happened? I wanna speak to you on the subject matter as we kick off this year, "An anointing born out of adversity changes the world". The subtext is this and you'll get it in a moment, "Come hell or high water, I'm on my way to Rome". Come hell or high water, I'm on my way to Rome. If you're taking any notes, and good luck with that... it is what it is. Number one, you and your house are anointed for Rome which means greater things. Your destiny is not based on what's in front of you, your destiny is based on who's inside of you. Act 27:1, "When it was decided we would sail for Italy, for Rome. Paul and some other prisoners were handed over to a centurion name Julius who belonged to the imperial regimen". Somebody shout, "Rome".
Now, we get the story, here's Paul, he ends up in Malta, there's a shipwreck, literally, he lost a ship. He ends up in Malta, he's drenched, all of a sudden he's trying to get himself heated up, there's, and then he gets more brushwood and in the brushwood was a viperous snake connecting with the fire, with the pit already created by those that were hosting him, all of a sudden the snake comes out, gets a hold of his hand, he shakes it off and he gets to Rome. The question is how did Paul, he was on his way to Rome. What was Rome? Rome. Paul was on his way to Rome, not for a mani-pedi, not for a recital, not for a gathering of the road to Damascus association. He was on is way to Rome because four chapters prior, God gave Paul his biggest assignment. Act 23:11, "That night the Lord appeared to Paul and said, 'be encouraged, Paul. As you have been a witness to me here in Jerusalem, you must preach the gospel, the good news in Rome as well".
Paul was on his way to Rome to bring the good news, to preach the news on the biggest stage of the ancient world. It's the preaching of the gospel of Jesus. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we're on our way to Rome. Let me speak to you metaphorically and spiritually speaking. We're about to see the gospel impact more people than ever before in human history. Now, I know, I know, I know, "But the scholars have projected, we read in the corresponding survey, the detractors, the naysayers". We're about to see the gospel of the risen Savior reach every nation, every ethnicity, every generation, every demographic without exception. You can't stop God. I'll repeat that, you can't stop God. Isaiah 14:27, "I the Lord of hosts have planned it, who can stop me now". Matthew 24:14, "The good news about the kingdom will be preached throughout the entire world. The nations will hear it and then the end will come," we are about to see a gospel explosion like we've never seen before.
And you may be saying, "Ah, you know, that's great, wishful thinking, that's, like, you know, prophetic hyperbole, it's spaghetti on the wall, it's optimistic, it's Pollyannaish, it's all the good things, but in reality, this world is going to hell in a hand basket". Listen, God is up to something. No joke, let me submit to you for your prayerful consideration the following, the evidence so it's not just rhetorical. Since I was here one year ago, God is up to something. In the past year, in the past year, let me show you what took place. In the past 12 months, this is what happened, go back, back, back a year ago. Right after this conference, there was an NFL football player Damar Hamlin. He dies live on Monday night football, national television, this young man dies. He's dead. Both teams come around, start praying, and the young man who was dead came back to life.
Now, y'all don't... I don't know if you get the impact of this, this is Monday night football. Monday night football. He dies, teams pray, come back to life. The next day, do your Google due diligence please, go on YouTube. The next day on ESPN, the host of the program looks into the camera and says, "Yeah, I wanna speak to you about what happened yesterday. Yesterday, of course, we saw this tragic event and right now he's doing better but we saw this event where Damar Hamlin died," and here's what he says, "He died, but both teams got together and people all around the world began to pray and the same man who was dead came back to life".
On ESPN, and over here, over here you know, lady says, "Yeah but now there are some issues here. Issues regarding, you know, safety protocols. We have concussion protocols, maybe should have hit him with a sternum, or maybe some modification regarding", and the guy over here comes back and says, "That's not the point, the point is this, he died, people prayed, he came back to life". Over here, the other guy goes like, "There are some layoff implications now, there are some playoff, whether or not the schedule, should they cancel, should they not". The host comes back, the host, he doubles down, he goes, "Yeah, I get that, that's true and all, but that's not the point, here's the point. He died, he was dead, he died, people prayed and he came back to life".
Go ahead and look it up. And then the host says, "I think we should pray". ESPN, and he says, "Do you mind if we pray"? And everybody else says, "Well, let's pray". And usually, the camera would just pivot commercial break, they went in rogue, they're off script, but they didn't. And they begin to pray on ESPN and in the middle of his prayer, the host says, "Because we serve the God that has the power to heal". God is up to something, God is up to something. Immediately thereafter, what a coinkidink.
Immediately thereafter, what takes place? In a places called Kentucky, Asbury, Kentucky? Asbury, Kentucky. You ever heard of Asbury, Kentucky? Asbury Kentucky, a bunch of young people in this university they begin to just look for God and the same identical demographic deemed is the most non-Christian demographic in American history, it seems God never got the memo. And God said, "Hmm, Holy Spirit, go". And these young generation z young people, they couldn't stop praying and reading the Bible and repenting of sin and acknowledging the sovereignty of Christ and people traveled from all over the world because God showed up in Asbury, Kentucky. Uh-huh, don't drink the Kool-Aid. Generation z will not be the lost generation, it will be the most Christian generation. I'mma say that one more time. Your children will not be lost, your children will not go to hell, your children and your children's children and your children's children's children's children will have an encounter with the risen Savior, our children will be saved.
Right after that, our mutual friend, Greg Laurie, he produces this film about, you know, the holy hippies. And it was expected to make five, seven million bucks off this receipt, this is, like, $50 million plus later and just a few months ago, he baptized over 4,000 at pirate's cove in Orange County, California. People coming to Jesus like, "What's going on"? He followed, right, now, since then, even after that, I follow, the name is irrelevant but you could Google, "The neurobiology head of Stanford university". And this man who is one of the most brilliant people on the planet, in the past year, I was speaking to pastor Robert in the green room about this. He had an encounter with Jesus Christ, one of the smartest men on the planet, Stanford university, neurobiology chair, comes along and says, he goes on his podcast and says, "You've known me for ba ba ba ba ba, all my research, all my studies, but now I want you to know me for this, I've had a personal encounter with Jesus Christ, I've had an encounter with him".
And for all the Latino folk, hear this. In the past few months, daddy Yankee. You may not know who daddy Yankee is. No, he doesn't play for the Yankees. He's one of the most iconic Latino artist on the planet and he gets on a stage and says, "I just have to do it, I've had a personal encounter with the risen Savior, Jesus. I've given my life to Christ". And then, in Amsterdam we gathered. We gathered in Amsterdam, about 7,000 strong. Pastors and leaders, network leaders and so forth, to sign an agreement, to sign an agreement that by 2033 every single person on the planet would receive a viable presentation of the gospel of Jesus. I don't know if you know what that means. There are billions of people right now, you may think with the internet, with social media. No, there are governments that restrict access, but we are believing by faith that by 2033, every single group, I'm not saying anyone's gon' get saved, but they will hear a viable presentation of the gospel of Jesus.
Does gateway come in agreement at this press conference? Are streaming? We are, so I'mma say it. All the nations will hear the gospel of Jesus. This means secular nations, Christian nations, muslim nations, communist nations, socialist nations, woke nations, every nation will hear the gospel of Jesus, every generation will hear the gospel of Jesus. Millennials, generation Z, generation alpha, and every letter in the alphabet will hear the letter, yes, every letter in the alphabet will hear that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and I mean every letter. AARP, LGBTQ, are you down with opp, from A to Z, everyone will hear that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. That he shed his blood to forgive us of all of our sins and one the third day, he came out of the grave to give you and me eternal, new, and abundant life.
If you believe, if you are not ashamed of the gospel, Romans, 1:16, and you believe that it is still the power of God unto salvation, say amen. If you truly believe that, touch the neighbor you like the most and tell 'em, "Come hell or high water, I'm on my way to Rome". If you really believe it, touch the neighbor you barely tolerate, you know who that is. Touch that neighbor and tell 'em, "Come hell or high water, I'm on my way to Rome". If you're ready for revival, praise like you believe it, worship like you believe it, pray like you believe it, live like you believe it, think like you believe it, serve like you believe it. You and your house, number two, are anointed for the storm. There it is, the storm does not define you, the storm reveals who you really are. Wow. "Alright, Paul, you're going to Rome". "Gracias, senor". Going to Rome, going to Rome. Never have him the specifics of it. "Paul, you're going to Rome".
So, all of a sudden, he's on the way to Rome, you would think that he's going to Rome on a Norwegian cruise line. Royal Caribbean, Celebrity X, Carnival, and for all the Bougie people, Viking Cruises. No, he's going to Rome on a prison ship. Hmm, didn't get that in the memo. Alright. He's on his way to Rome. He's on his way to Rome on a prison ship and all of a sudden, Acts 27, a nor'Easter, a storm hits and that storm begins to just batter the ship, flapping it around like a cheap pinata. That's sound slightly racist, sorry about that. Like a, just slapping it around like something, alright?
So, he's being battered and this is what the Bible says, I'm gonna read it. "The ship was caught by the storm so we gave way to it to be driven by the storm". They preferred to be driven by the storm, and as a result, the Bible says, verse 18, "They were violently battered". So, what drives you? We are all driven people. We're either driven by the past or the future, by the pathetic or the prophetic, by problems or promises, by nightmares or dreams, by the flesh or the spirit, by Google searches or godly searches. We're either driven by drama or by destiny, by trauma or by testimony. So, what drives you? Are you driven by the praise of others? Are you driven by criticism? Here it is as it pertains to the opinions regarding you by others. If their praise did not make you, their criticism cannot break you.
We have too many Christians that spend more time reacting to what comes from hell rather than what comes from heaven. We have too many believers driven by the winds of cancel culture, ideologies, and social constructs that are counter intuitive to the word and the spirit of Almighty God. Too many Christians driven by opinions and feelings instead of being driven by truth and love. What drives you? Are you driven? Oh boy, here we go, full disclosure... I, kinda, lived a portion of this message last year and pastor Robert is totally up to par with this because he was part of this conversation. So, last year, I get a call right before last year I get a call, last year came to fruition. But I got a call, "Pastor Sam," wrapping up 2022, "Pastor Sam," a ministry I'm gonna be very, because of parameters, liability, disclaimers, and insurance policies, I'm gonna as nuance and whimsical as possible.
I get a call and the call was from a very prominent ministry in California, very prominent. And the call was, "Pastor Sam, we did not", in essence, "We did not survive COVID, and we've lost 1,500 people, we have $25 million of debt, our property is, as you will know, a large property, has three sanctuaries, a 3,000 seater, a 1018 seater, and a 300 seater, 40 plus acres," etcetera, etcetera. "It has a school. Pastor Sam, would you consider coming in, merging and taking over the ministry"? And so, I went like, "Wow," 'cause our church in California, we pastored by the grace of God a very multi ethnically diverse church. It's Caucasian, which means white. It's African American which means black, and then there's Asian, native Americans, Latinos, and people that don't check any of the boxes, 'cause they don't want to, they don't want to.
So, it's beautiful, it looks like the kingdom, but we grew and God gave us a great harvest post-COVID to such a degree the county came in, true story, county came in and gave us and said, "You've exceeded your maximum capacity. Y'all gon' have to make some decisions here". So, we were like, "This is an answered prayer". Alright, so we met, we had our initial meetings, our due diligence, so I met with the leadership and so forth. We have conversations, conversations, conversations. And about, right after five conversations, we get the call, "Pastor Sam, let's formalize this. We want you to come in with members of your board, we will be here with our board members, let's sign an MOU, let's proceed with the execution of this merger". Wow, I'm going, "This is it".
So, we met, they never told me the questions, we met right beforehand, and hour beforehand and George, my assistant, his wife is part of our board, she was there. And so, we met beforehand, we went to a coffee shop whose name I will not mention. It's the one with Jezebel on the cup. But anyways. So we met, it was pretty convenient, we met, so we met, "Guys, what are they gonna ask"? "Alright, Pastor Sam, they're gonna ask questions about fiduciary governance, they're gonna ask about integrational systems, probably attrition on their side and what we do and", alright, alright, "Process, what are your", get that, alright, "They're probably gonna ask about whether or not you're gonna have a Spanish service, Slavic service, etcetera, etcetera". Got that, got that, got that.
"A little risk management, liab", alright, cool, cool, cool. Are we ready? Let's go, let's go. We left that place, we left jezze in the cup and we crossed the street and we came over and we approach, we launch the meeting. I'm there and my board members are there and we sat down here and I sat down, I'm ready. I'm going, they never gave me a heads up what were the questions, and this, just like this, this is, we have witnesses on both sides to substantiate this, not embolus with the purpose of getting you to go, "Woo," no, this is exactly how it happened. I sit down, we're here, they're there right across the table, and "Pastor Sam, thank you for coming with your board. Well, we wanna begin with the following question". And I'm going, "Yes, go ahead".
And I'm wired, I'm caffeinated, very caffeinated. So, go. Alright, boom. Prayed out, no joke, we had our prayer team, our intercessors interceding, we're ready to do this. And here was the question. "Pastor Sam, we wanna begin with this first question," first question. "Pastor Sam, our church, we lean left. We wanna know where do you lean"? This is my response, because, so help me, first of all, you gotta put this in perspective. "By the grace of God," 1 Corinthians 15:10, I know my assignment on this planet and as a preacher and producer and all that we do but, but I'm a comedian. The first thing that came to my mind was not a prophetic enclosure, it was not a, "Thus said the Lord," it was, "Sam, you have enough material here for the next five to ten years, man. You're good, buddy".
But this really happened. I looked up and nothing will come out of my mouth, which is both a sign and a wonder. And this, my face, I just couldn't, nothing, and this is me, I went, "We lean left, where do you lean"? And I'm fighting with the Holy Spirit, I am. 'cause I'm fighting with the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is telling me, "Sammy, say it". And I'm going, like... "Sam, say it". 'cause if I would say what the Lord is telling me to say, I'm gonna lose that building, which I did. He said, "Say it". So, I went like, "No, no", and the Lord said, "Sammy," Holy Spirit versus Sam, Holy Spirit always wins. So, I finally looked up and my team was looking at me like, "You're not saying anything, like, you know".
So, I finally looked up. "Well, we lean left, where do you lean"? And I went like this, I went... "Thank you for your question. With great due deference, at our church, we don't lean, we stand. We stand. We stand on the Word of God, we stand on the promises of God, we stand on the finished work of Christ. Whatever the Bible calls holy, we call holy, whatever the Bible calls sin, we call sin". We don't need Christians and churches that lean one way or another, we need a church to rise up in America that will stand. Somebody shout if you're standing him. Stand, stand, stand, stand. Lift up your hands, lift up your hands.
1 Corinthians 16:13, I feel the Lord, "Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith". I'm calling right now this first conference to the entire church in America and around the world, stop leaning, start standing. Stop leaning, start standing. It's time for the church to stop leaning and start standing. Stand up for biblical truth, stand up for righteousness and justice. And I'm gonna get in trouble again, stand up for our children! Stand up for holy sexuality, stand up for the family, stand up for Godliness, stand up for life, stand up for religious liberty, stand up for biblical justice, stand up for racial unity, stand up for the gospel.
And don't get offended, do not just stand in the church, stand up in the school board meeting, stand up in the boating booth. Lift up your hands if you're standing. You are standing. Ephesians 6:13, "Put on the full armor of God so when the day of evil comes you may be able to stand your ground, and after you've done everything to stand". With your hand raised, permit to declare we're about to see your church rise up. Not one driven by political correctness, comfortability, lukewarmness, or apathy, but one driven by the father, driven by the son, driven by the Holy Spirit, a church that stands. Oh, I sense the Lord. We're gonna see a church rise up, families rise up, and no longer lean, but stand. We have to stand. We can't compromise, we have to stand, we have to stand. Oh, I sense God.